Sunday, March 31, 2013

Happy Easter! He is RISEN!! We had a great Easter. I love how much my kids understand about why we celebrate Easter. They are constantly asking me pretty deep theological questions. The other day we were listening to the song Jesus Messiah and Will wanted to know how I knew for sure that Jesus died on the cross. Then Isabel wanted to know if he died for her sins too since she wasn't even born yet! I'm so thankful they are really thinking it through and I'm constantly praying I explain it correctly.

It was a rainy Easter so we didn't get to have any pretty pictures with the trees that have started to bloom. Oh well....they are still pretty cute in their Easter outfits!﻿

My little preacher man has started having "talks" with us. He says he wants to have bible studies like daddy so he sits on the fireplace with an old bible and starts teaching. I love it!﻿

After church, lunch and a needed nap/rest time we decided it was time to decorate some Easter eggs. I have to say that although this is never my favorite Easter activity, it was more fun this year because the kids were able to do a little more.﻿

We also got a pack that included dye to make speckled eggs. Basically they just used sponges to paint on the eggs. They both loved doing this.﻿

Maybe not the prettiest eggs in the world but they had fun making them.﻿

As is our tradition, the kids got their Easter baskets on Saturday. We have never really made a big deal about the Easter bunny. In fact, I don't think we have ever really even said who the basket came from. We simply said it was an Easter surprise and they were fine with that. Until this year when Isabel talked constantly about what the Easter bunny brought her. Not sure what made the difference this year

Then we got ready and went to a community Easter egg hunt near us. They had face painting, cotton candy, the Easter bunny, egg hunts and inflatables. The kids had lots of fun!

If you had told me a few years ago that these 2 would be sitting in the Easter bunny's lap, I would never have believed it! ﻿

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Because Isabel is in kindergarten this year, I consider it our first real spring break and we definitely enjoyed it!! After church Sunday, we loaded up and headed to Birmingham. As always it was a fun trip. We saw family and friends. We went to a children's museum, ate at some restaurants we miss and Josh and I enjoyed a night out with free babysitting!!

It is always fun to get together with some friends from college and their sweet kids.﻿

Isabel and Will love their cousins! For some reason they all decided to take a zillion toys from the playroom and put them all on my mom's guest bed instead to play with there. I'll be honest, it kept them busy and happy so the adults got to talk. Win-Win!﻿

All 4 kids are crazy and way crazier when they are all together. Obviously decent pictures of all 4 are pretty much impossible and will be come even more impossible when we add a 5th cousin soon!! We can't wait! :)﻿

Too much cuteness in that little bed﻿

We love the McWane Center in Birmingham!!﻿

driving a submarine...﻿

I know I will never be ready for the day when Isabel is behind the wheel of a real car!﻿

The only thing scarier is the thought of Will driving a car someday! ha!﻿

I saw this sign and thought I would "trick" Isabel with it. I remember learning about the "stroop effect" in school and I assumed she would have a hard time (like I always do). Well, I was super wrong. She read through the list of colors as quickly as possible without the slightest hesitation. THEN I read the note at the bottom saying kids who are just beginning to read actually don't have trouble because they are actually still reading the words. Interesting....﻿

this kid loves playing in the water﻿

so does she!

After our trip to Birmingham, we continued the fun at home. We went to the movies, had movie night at home, ate donuts and went to fun Easter events. It was so nice to have this week without school. Is it summer yet?

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

After the Easter egg hunt at church, Isabel had a quick transformation and we were off to her dance pictures. The recital is not until June so this was a practice run to make sure we followed all of the rules regarding the costumes, tights, make-up, hair, etc. I have to admit that I actually complained a lot about all of this for weeks before the pictures. There were changes to make to one of the costumes that required sewing- a skill I do not have (but now realize that I desperately need to learn). I was annoyed that after paying so much for the actual dance classes and costumes and shoes I also had to buy a new kind of tights that were, of course, way more expensive. I was hesitant about putting real make-up (beyond lip gloss or a little blush that we have done before) on my 6 year old. Plus the importance placed on having their hair done in such a specific way stressed me out.

HOWEVER, I will now admit that it was not as bad as I was making it out to be. I actually had fun playing "dress up" with my precious daughter that will be too old to want to do things like that with me way too soon. Isabel was beyond excited about the make-up and I was thankful she still looked like my sweet girl- only a little older. As I was putting mascara on those long eye lashes of hers, there was a moment when I could just see exactly what she would look like as a teenager. Ugh, I'm not ready for her to grow up just yet.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Today was the day for our annual Easter egg hunt at church. As always it was a lot of fun. The weather was still pretty cold but it didn't rain so the kids still got to hunt eggs outside. They had fun hunting eggs, got tons of candy and played in the inflatables. It was a fun day.

They started with some crafts.﻿

Will collected eggs until he could barely carry his basket﻿

Isabel moved up this year and hunted eggs with the bigger kids. At first she was upset that she couldn't go with Will but quickly got over it and had so much fun.﻿

Isabel's school had a "Candy Fling" (AKA Easter Egg Hunt) at school on Friday. We were thankful that it didn't rain but it was still a cold, cloudy day. The kids still had so much fun. It took the parents 20 minutes to spread out hundreds and hundreds of eggs and it took the kindergartners about 2 minutes to gather them all!

Unfortunately March has been a lot colder than I wanted it to be. It has actually been pretty cold with only a few warm days thrown in that just make the colder days that much worse. While we complain about the cold, we really take advantage of the warm sunny days and pray for spring!!

We play outside any time we can.....

We also went to a carnival at Isabel's school one day when the weather was amazing! We went to this carnival last year and I can remember telling Isabel that she would be there in a year. She was terrified and wouldn't even talk about it. This year she walked around that school like she owned it saying hey to everyone! :)

Saturday, March 9, 2013

I think winter may be really be over. I was holding out for a big snow but I'm finally realizing that my snow dream most likely will not come true so now I am just ready for spring!! Today was our first beginning-to-look-like-spring day and we took full advantage of it by going to the zoo......along with everyone else in Nashville and surrounding areas. Regardless of the people, we had a great time!

Watching the gibbons swing. They were unusually quiet today.﻿

These crazy kids love their zoo maps﻿

This was a big day for Isabel. She (like her mom) is not a big fan of getting anywhere near birds. Every other time we have stopped in the bird house at the zoo, Josh and Will try to feed the birds and love having them land on them while Isabel begs to leave. I think she is mainly just terrified that one will poop on her! However, today she decided that she wanted to feed the birds too and she did!!﻿

so proud of herself﻿

Love the elephants﻿

better view from the other side. These guys are huge!﻿

Will trying to spot a meerkat﻿

This girl has always loved the flamingos﻿

I kept thinking today how much I love these ages (even though it makes me so sad that they are growing up at the same time). It is so so so much easier and way less stressful to go places with them. They are much more flexible and just fun to be around. I was reminded how big my little girl is getting as she read every sign to us this time!!